Saturday's Aggie game against San Jose State was a wild one.
There will be people who talk about how NMSU let SJSU back into the game and how it shouldn't have been that close to begin with. That is true, but who really cares? A win is a win for the Aggies at this point and I don't think the team needs to apologize about getting victories. They've been rare and everyone should just enjoy it, particularly how it came - a 29-27 final with NMSU winning on the last play of the contest.
While the Aggies have struggled to get W's, the team has won close games under head coach DeWayne Walker. The Aggies have won five games the last two years - and all have come by three points or less. They've lost just once in the same scenario.
If the Aggies could find a way to be in 8-to-10 games a year, this would bode well. Winning close games is a skill in football. Granted, NMSU hasn't beaten very good clubs during that period, but they are beating teams that are of similar skill. If Walker and the coaching staff continues to build the Aggies the way they see fit, and bring in more talent across the board, NMSU will begin to play with more teams as the years go on. And they have shown that they can win the close ones.
While Saturday's game saw NMSU lose a 17-3 lead and eventually fall behind 27-23 late in the fourth, the team didn't fold. Matt Christian's fumble with under 3 minutes remaining in the contest could have toppled the Aggies. But they scratched, clawed, got some luck - a missed field goal was a big helper - got the ball back and capitalized. Make no mistake - there was pressure on the Aggies to win this game, and the Spartans for that matter. Realistically, how many more wins are these teams going to have all year? This could be the final one for the Aggies, and every W counts at this point. They continued to fight and got the win. It does mean something.
I'm excited about the final four games of the season - at Utah State and Nevada, hosting Louisiana Tech and Hawaii. If the Aggies can swing an upset in one of them, it will be a nice way to close out the season. If they can win two, it will mean they are one win better than a season ago.
People can look at stats and figures all they want. One stat matters - wins. At this point, don't worry about how the Aggies get them, just hope they have one or two more left in the bag before the year closes out.
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13 comments:
During the Dumme years, the team would have folded after losing that lead.
Coach Walker is slowly but surely, turning around the losing mentality in Las Cruces!
This team is not super talented but, they are playing their hearts out!!
This was the lowest attended Homecoming I've seen in 20 years! Honestly, it was sad to watch so many empty seats!!
However, I don't blame the players, coaches or fans. I blame McKinley Boston and his Athletic Dept. for scheduling games at 2:00 & 1:00.
It's not easy getting 20K in AGM as it is. Then you throw in these start times and you see what you get!
Everyone knows that those start times are historicaly bad for attendance. Yet, they continue to do it?
Dr. Boston,
You are not helping coach Walker succeed. You throw him under the bus with money games and start times.
Who's corner are you on?
JEFE
I've been pretty down on the Aggies this year. Losing the lead was didn't help.
I have to say that the Aggies' final drive was telling. I thought the team played with poise and confidence. Something I don't remember seeing in the last few years. The O-line blocked well. The receivers ran good routes and the QB delivered strikes.
Prior to the final drive, the defense got a stop after the fumble put them in a bad position. Had the Spartans been able to run even just one more play, there wouldn't have been enough time for the Aggies to come back.
I am hopeful that this game will help the Aggies win a few more going down the home stretch.
I know the folks of Las Cruces are creatures of habit, but honestly, you can't blame a game's early start time for pitiful attendance. There's more to it than that. Is it that hard to check a game's start time? Really?
Most teams in the country play games both day and night in the same season. It's not like it was on a Friday or mid-week or something. Most people are off the entire day on Saturday and could attend. Besides, there could've been travel issues w/ San Jose or other circumstances that dictated the early start time.
Yeah the start time was bad, but so is the "timing." It's great to win homecoming and it was smart to schedule SJSU. However, week 8 on a 1 win team is always going to be a low attendance game. Game 3 of the World Series and Halloween parties probably kept some fans/students from going to the game. I wish Coach and the team much success. I will be at the final two games regardless, but I hope that the 4 and 1 pm start times doesn't hurt attendance.
I don't blame the 2 p.m. start time for hurting attendance. It was a beautiful day for football and last year's night games late in the year - Fresno State, Nevada stand out - drew nothing and were played in cold temperatures. If this game was played a 6 p.m., would the crowd have been that much better?
People didn't come because the two teams had a 2-13 combined record going into the contest. Until Aggie football is the "thing to do" on Saturday afternoons, people likely won't show up. They gotta win more. Sorry but true.
Hats of to Coach Walker and the players for equaling last year's win total (D1 wins),with four games remaining to improve further still!!!
Beating Utah St or pulling a big upset vs. Hawaii, Tech or Nevada would in my mind equal a huge improvement over last season.
Rodgers,Christian, Stampler, Coleman, Turner are all Walker's players.. Let's see what happens?
Fleming a 6-4, 174-pound junior from Fullerton, Calif., completed 23-of-32 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns to lead Sacramento State to a 40-10 road win over No. 25 Northern Arizona. Fleming as nearly perfect in the first half, completing 20-of-24 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns. His TD passes all came in the second quarter as he connected on scores of 39 and 12 yards to Morris Norrise and 10 yards to Ron Richardson. Sacramento State built a 34-0 halftime lead as Fleming guided the Hornets to touchdown drives on five consecutive possessions. This is Fleming’s first player of the week honor.
Just like I said last week, "Give Taveon the BALL!!!!!!!!!"
Jefe,
I know that this is a high school football town but that doesnt mean that the Aggies have to play at night like Mayfield and Cruces. College football is mostly a Saturday morning/afternoon type of game so I dont see what the problem is with playing games at 2:00PM. Like Teddy said, it was a beautiful day to play and the attendance probably wouldnt be better if it was played later. (Speaking of attendance, official count was 4890, athletics just tossed in an extra 9000). Also, I dont understand why you keep complaining of the schedule that Walker has to work with. In case you havent noticed, we arent a good football program. We are one of the worst and as such get to play in the money games. Thats how this game works and until we become the next Boise then that wont change. I would hardly call Kansas and San Diego St. horrible games seeing as how we lost to UTEP by a worst score. Just sit back relax, go to the afternoon games and enjoy the good football before Boise Nevada and Fresno leave us.
GS
I too hate those early start times!!
I just like most Las Cruces residents, run my kids around all morning/ day long before we hit the tailgate lots and then head into the stadium.
I understand that it gets in cool once the sun goes down and we don't want the old farts catching pneumonia but, 2:00?!!
I think the 4:00 time will work for November but 2:00 in October when it's in the 80's, c'mon!
Great Win. Watched on Aggie Visions and have to say that the announcers need to step it up a bit. On the final drive the announcer shouted "Touchdown Aggies" when it was clear that Allen had dropped the pass in the endzone. Good thing the Aggies pulled out the win.
I have to agree with Jefe that the start times don't need to be any earlier than 4pm. We are not a major college that is forced by TV to play an early game. The lack of wins always attributes to poor attendance after the first 3 home games but you are definately not helping the situation. It would be interesting to see more stats on this. The main point is you have to know your market and you will not get many people away from their daily habits to watch a historically bad team.
Have to think that we have played well when matched with like talent this year. The two games that we realistically had a chance to win we have won. It has been close but as Aggie fan you have to take what you can get.
Getting the ball to your best players is the key. Rodgers opened things up in the first half and then proved be can play in tight and in space in the second half. Looks like the ags will lean on Turner, but I still think that there are plays up the middle for Seth Smith. What seems to be the issue there? Is it a matter of work ethic or another reason he has fallen out of favor?
What's a Fleming?
Yeah. Playing a homecoming game between two struggling teams on a Saturday night when many fans and students were having Halloween parties would've been a GREAT idea. Surely, they would've dropped their party plans to attend, much like those arguing for later start times were willing to rearrange their days...not. Yeah, I know, it wasn't technically Halloween, but I'm sure lots of people had plans. The 2:00 SATURDAY start time was fine...probably ideal, given the situation.
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